FARK.com: (6824926) Comcast is signing up new customers now that they're pretending not to be Comcast

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		Comcast is signing up new customers now that they're pretending not to be Comcast (articles.philly.com)		49
		More: Amusing, Comcast, brand management, San Francisco State University, Infiniti, South Philadelphia, FiOS

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49 Comments (+0 »)

MrEricSir

2011-12-17 09:31:34 PM

"People are farking DUMB."
- George Carlin

Sarcastic Fringehead

2011-12-17 10:02:28 PM

It means "unlimitedly unknown"

FinFangFark

2011-12-17 10:10:47 PM

How about not requiring a basic cable TV package in order to get internet at a reasonable price? Here in Houston, it's 44.95 w/basic cable, and if you say no thanks, it's $60.

Of course, that has nothing to do with the fact there is ZERO competition in this in terms of providers.

/I'm gonna go hit my 250GB cap out of spite now
//Bangbros torrents here I come (huh huh...come...huh huh)

Benevolent Misanthrope

2011-12-17 10:25:25 PM

FinFangFark: How about not requiring a basic cable TV package in order to get internet at a reasonable price? Here in Houston, it's 44.95 w/basic cable, and if you say no thanks, it's $60.

Of course, that has nothing to do with the fact there is ZERO competition in this in terms of providers.

/I'm gonna go hit my 250GB cap out of spite now
//Bangbros torrents here I come (huh huh...come...huh huh)

Meanwhile, in Tacoma, WA, cable is part of Public Utilities. As is high-speed Internet. Or you can go with ~~Comc~~ uhh... Xfinity. Because NO ONE seems to understand that Comcast is still EVIL.

Jesus, people are stupid.

FinFangFark

2011-12-17 10:30:06 PM

Benevolent Misanthrope: FinFangFark: How about not requiring a basic cable TV package in order to get internet at a reasonable price? Here in Houston, it's 44.95 w/basic cable, and if you say no thanks, it's $60.

Of course, that has nothing to do with the fact there is ZERO competition in this in terms of providers.

/I'm gonna go hit my 250GB cap out of spite now
//Bangbros torrents here I come (huh huh...come...huh huh)

Meanwhile, in Tacoma, WA, cable is part of Public Utilities. As is high-speed Internet. Or you can go with Comc uhh... Xfinity. Because NO ONE seems to understand that Comcast is still EVIL.

Jesus, people are stupid.

I tried my damnedest to cancel last year. Everytime I said "comcast internet" the rep (named Steve, but probably really named Habashabhahanaa) kept trying to correct me, "Uhm, you mean Xfinity internet"

"look, if you wrap shiat in gold, it's still shiat"

Yes, the day another broadband company that pops up with a great home bandwidth that isn't named DSL shows up, I will be done with Comcast.

I just hope they aren't reading this, I wouldn't want them to cu------

NightSteel

2011-12-17 10:45:35 PM

PEPCON approves.

baorao

2011-12-17 11:06:10 PM

I like how they advertise XFinityTV for $12/month. and neglect to mention its a $12 premium to your existing cable service so you can watch shows on your computer should you not catch them live and forget to DVR them.

TheGreatGazoo

2011-12-17 11:06:27 PM

Eh, I have Comcast business. I pay for 12/2, and get 20/5 according to speedtest.net, for whatever that is work.

But I have a 7/24/365 SLA, so if my internet goes down at 8 pm on a Sunday, they will roll a truck.

Frow

2011-12-17 11:22:12 PM

After spending hours and going through 5 techs trying to explain to them what "Bridging the modem" means and trying to explain DHCP, I'm not a huge fan.

I will give props to the last woman I talked to this evening when my modem felt the need to seize up, helpful and set up a truck for tomorrow to check me out. Doesn't exactly balance out, but fast internet with occasional outages version slow internet with occasional outages is about all I can hope for it seems.

cmunic8r99

2011-12-17 11:29:58 PM

mehmehmeh

2011-12-17 11:36:00 PM

Tried to get Comcast to set up new service (TV + Internet) at my mom's newly built home on my land. 3 months later and I can't even tell you how many "scheduled" days....We finally decided she'd walk across the yard to use the internet and hooked her up with Direct TV (who was out the very next day to install).

Two days later, they dug the cable line from the utility box (finally)

//Mom can get her streaming internet (Netflix/hulu) and DVR her "shows"
///I don't have to explain the internet to her constantly anymore
////I farkin' cancelled my TV service and would my internet if my job didn't require that I have broadband
////slashies for those of us who live in hickville

CrazyCurt

2011-12-18 12:07:27 AM

Here's how I believe business school education must occur in the 21st century.

Professor: "Today I will teach you the complexities of handling a business with a poor reputation. Class, what would be the first thing you should do if your company develops a bad reputation?"
Class: "Golly, sir, find why customers are dissatisfied and try to correct those problems?" "Oh oh oh hey how about offering good deals to unhappy, long-term customers?" "I know, we give away a puppy with every new account?"
Professor: "NO! Americans are too stupid for such grandiose concepts since they've been raised entirely with stimulii of appearence importance. Function means NOTHING! You do not fix things, that's expensive! Use the stupidity of the consumer to your advantage!"
Class: "But but how do you make it so everyone forgets your company is lousy?"
Professor: "Rename the company. Rebranding we call it. Americans are brand programmed, a name means more than function or quality, it is only the facade they know. New name, new paint, new staff, new ad campaign. Americans only see the front of the store they never see what's behind the counter. They are programmed for fashion over function. Rename and flood the advertising markets. Problems solved!"

I wrote Comcast an e-mail asking just who I make the check out to, them or Xfinity. More than once. Got a different answer. Even THEY don't know.

/ fark Confinity and their farking lies and farking monopoly and their farking little toadies in the FarkCC.

Tourney3p0

2011-12-18 12:11:37 AM

TheGreatGazoo: Eh, I have Comcast business. I pay for 12/2, and get 20/5 according to speedtest.net, for whatever that is work.

It doesn't mean much. You're probably seeing Speed Boost or whatever they're calling it these days. They bump up the speeds dramatically for a few seconds at the beginning of an upload or download. Doesn't make much of a difference at all for relatively large downloads, but it will give false results for small things like speed tests.

video man

2011-12-18 12:12:21 AM

TheGreatGazoo: Eh, I have Comcast business. I pay for 12/2, and get 20/5 according to speedtest.net, for whatever that is work.

But I have a 7/24/365 SLA, so if my internet goes down at 8 pm on a Sunday, they will roll a truck.

I want to say that has to do with PowerBoost. I get the same thing with Cox, I pay for 15/2, but get 19/6 with PowerBoost. I NEVER see a consistent speed of 19Mbits down for more than 5 minutes, though. Oddly, the 6Mbits up is consistent. Convenient, knowing that I should be getting 2.4 up, WITH the PowerBoost.

video man

2011-12-18 12:15:13 AM

Tourney3p0: TheGreatGazoo: Eh, I have Comcast business. I pay for 12/2, and get 20/5 according to speedtest.net, for whatever that is work.

It doesn't mean much. You're probably seeing Speed Boost or whatever they're calling it these days. They bump up the speeds dramatically for a few seconds at the beginning of an upload or download. Doesn't make much of a difference at all for relatively large downloads, but it will give false results for small things like speed tests.

Damn, beat me to it. But, yeah, download a large file from a quality server and see what the average rate is. I often get ~1.7MB/s downloads with Steam, which would mean a 13-15 MbitsDown rate.

ThisNameSux

2011-12-18 12:19:17 AM

Comcast is the biggest cable company out there so they must suck, right? Apply the same logic to everything popular and you'll know how the mind of the internet nerd works.

Benevolent Misanthrope

2011-12-18 12:25:22 AM

video man

2011-12-18 12:26:53 AM

ThisNameSux: Comcast is the biggest cable company out there so they must suck, right? Apply the same logic to everything popular and you'll know how the mind of the internet nerd works.

Well, I'm no fan of my cable ISP (Cox), but from anecdotes I've seen from Comcast subscribers, I'd much rather have Cox. Mostly because I don't have the sports package, but yet still get about half of the line up anyways(And it's the half I want too!), and my upload speed is capped too high. So, yeah, they fark up, but in my favor, so whatever. I think most people are peeved that there's usually only one serious broadband provider in their area. That's my main beef with Cox.

ThisNameSux

2011-12-18 12:39:40 AM

Benevolent Misanthrope: I see you've not done business with Comcast.

Funny since I'm sitting here watching my cable TV provided by Comcast as I type. Been a customer since cable TV first came to be and have never had a complaint.

Benevolent Misanthrope

2011-12-18 12:48:49 AM

ThisNameSux: Benevolent Misanthrope: I see you've not done business with Comcast.

Funny since I'm sitting here watching my cable TV provided by Comcast as I type. Been a customer since cable TV first came to be and have never had a complaint.

You are - no joke - the first person I've heard say that about Comcast. Everyone I have ever know who had them had a problem with service, billing, Internet speed... something. And something real, not pull-it-out-of-your-ass complaints.

I'm glad you've had good experience with them. And very glad I have an alternative to them here.

ThisNameSux

2011-12-18 12:52:39 AM

Benevolent Misanthrope: You are - no joke - the first person I've heard say that about Comcast. Everyone I have ever know who had them had a problem with service, billing, Internet speed... something. And something real, not pull-it-out-of-your-ass complaints.

I'm glad you've had good experience with them. And very glad I have an alternative to them here.

I've had outages but then again, so has everybody no matter who their service is with. I have friends who have DirecTV and U-verse and they both biatch about them more than do about Comcast.

skinink

2011-12-18 01:00:44 AM

They could rename their service "Britney Spears' Tits", but a $160 cable and internet bill is still too expensive. So glad I dropped cable and got a Roku instead. At least now I get my money's worth and use more of the 250GB allowance than I used to. I have Netflix Streaming plus Amazon Instant Video so I have more than enough entertainment shows to watch.

NightSteel

2011-12-18 01:01:26 AM

ThisNameSux:

Comcast, Worst Company in America (new window)

You've definitely been lucky.

Benevolent Misanthrope

2011-12-18 01:06:16 AM

skinink: They could rename their service "Britney Spears' Tits", but a $160 cable and internet bill is still too expensive. So glad I dropped cable and got a Roku instead. At least now I get my money's worth and use more of the 250GB allowance than I used to. I have Netflix Streaming plus Amazon Instant Video so I have more than enough entertainment shows to watch.

This, a library card, and a $15 antenna from monoprice.com means I spent $110 this year on video entertainment. (I don't count my amazon Prime membership, since I would have that even without the video streaming.) I rarely miss cable.

pwn3d781

2011-12-18 01:09:31 AM

Can't say I've personally had a problem with Comcast.

My girlfriend, on the other hand...this summer, she moved within the same city. She created a service plan at her new apartment before she moved out, and scheduled to move service to the new building. At the same time, she requested service terminated at her old apartment. She was led to believe that she had to schedule them to pick up her equipment, so she did so. After spending the morning cleaning the old place, she called to find out that the techs had stopped at her NEW apartment to pick up the cable box, and had left since no one was home. She had wasted a couple hours, but she asked if she could just return the stuff herself, and all was well.

Until they started experiencing phone service issues at the new place that weekend. And then the tubes went out that Sunday. She called support to dispatch a tech, and received a call back from the technicians that they were a bit mystified why they were being dispatched to a location where there was currently no service. Apparently they had disconnected service at the new apartment instead, hence why they sent the techs there. (I cracked a joke about this happening, not expecting to be right!) They said they couldn't reconnect service until much later in the week (this was a Monday), but my girlfriend spent a half-hour at least explaining that if they could disconnect her service remotely, they should be able to reconnect it remotely. And so a tech handled the issue the next morning.

MrEricSir

2011-12-18 01:25:41 AM

$50/month (including taxes) for ADSL2+ and unlimited nationwide calling from Sonic.net. Goes up to about 20mbps downstream and their support is very good.

Worth considering if you live in their service area.

/they're installing fiber to the home in some areas

FullMetalPanda

2011-12-18 01:43:57 AM

TheGreatGazoo: Eh, I have Comcast business. I pay for 12/2, and get 20/5 according to speedtest.net, for whatever that is work.

But I have a 7/24/365 SLA, so if my internet goes down at 8 pm on a Sunday, they will roll a truck.

No they don't. If it's the weekend or evening, you're screwed if the person monitoring the enterprise is too much of a wuss to go up the escalation until they wake up someone that will go out to the head end to fix your issue. Even then, the local contact probably can't do crap and needs the help of the person that called then and that person has to call AT&T in Texas. Basically, the folks they have during those hours are unmotivated types or too much of a wuss to call anyone.

Even if they do call some one, depending on who they call it might not make a difference if only you're out. Unless you have someone that will do whatever it takes to get you up and running risking pissing a lot of people off, you're screwed until the weekday during normal hours.

ChaoticLimbs

2011-12-18 01:46:13 AM

They weren't just handed their horrible reputation, they've earned it. Changing their name might temporarily fool people, but eventually Xfinity will have the exact same crummy reputation- horrible service, crappy employees, ridiculous bundling, and throttled internet.

What Plants Crave

2011-12-18 01:48:06 AM

I'm sure they are working on a way to disappoint me, even as I type this, but so far Comcast has been pretty decent for me (at least as reliable and fast as Cox was). Surely it has something to do with the fact that they do have competition in the area, some cable company you have never heard of, and AT&T.

*knocks on wood*

There were some serious lag spikes tonight while I was gaming, though.... crap.

Paula's Beautiful Bloodshot Eyes

2011-12-18 02:13:13 AM

The profanity filter should be removed for all future Comcast threads.

Harry_Seldon

2011-12-18 03:55:23 AM

At what point do we start treating wired home internet service as a regulated monopoly like natural gas, water, and electricity? Internet service is rapidly becoming a necessity, not an option.

Needlessly Complicated

2011-12-18 04:04:09 AM

FinFangFark: How about not requiring a basic cable TV package in order to get internet at a reasonable price? Here in Houston, it's 44.95 w/basic cable, and if you say no thanks, it's $60.

Of course, that has nothing to do with the fact there is ZERO competition in this in terms of providers.

/I'm gonna go hit my 250GB cap out of spite now
//Bangbros torrents here I come (huh huh...come...huh huh)

They won't tell you this, you have to ask but you can get "just local channels" for $15 a month. Of course, since I can get that for free it wasn't worth it to me. Their speedy internets were worth the money to me, honestly. I looked into UVerse. If you don't get a tv/internet bundle, you have to pay a $200 install fee.

Long story short, now I pay $25/mo for DSL. Works fine for what I need it for.

RocketCarHead

2011-12-18 05:08:55 AM

It's shiatastic!

MBrady

2011-12-18 08:13:12 AM

Last week, my 2nd DVR box starting losing channels. Instead of getting the channel, I would get a black screen and a message, "this channel will be available shortly," which never happened. More channels ended up that way - even the local ones.

So, I call comcrap. The customer service rep asks me if I have reset the box. [YES]. Then she tries to reset it herself. [DOESN'T DO A DAMN THING] She then says I can drive 20 miles out of my way to go to one of their service centers and exchange the box. I say, NO [the last time I did that, they were closed that day - thanks for NOTHING] So she says she can send me a box via UPS or USPS (whatever). I say fine.

I get the box 3 days later, and connect it. The directions tell me that i have to activate it. Okay, I can do that from their web site. I do that, and the web site tells me that the box is activated. I go back to the box, and the display shows something like a "rolling memory locations" 1E55 (whatever) and scrolling up.

I call customer service again. Guy tries to help. Tells me to unplug the box (I do it anyway, even though I already have tried that). He then tries to reset the box. Does not work.

He then tells me that for $16, I can have a technician come out to my house. I tell him, "NO THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN. I WILL NOT PAY $16 FOR A TECHNICIAN TO COME OUT TO FIX A PROBLEM WITH YOUR EQUIPMENT." I then say, I want to talk to a supervisor. He puts me on hold for 10 minutes, and comes back on and says that there is no supervisor available. [REALLY? You are working without a supervisor?] He says he can take a message.

Interesting thing is that the supervisor called back yesterday. [SURPRISE!] I explain the problem back to the beginning, and tell him again, that I will not pay for a technician to come out and fix a problem with YOUR equipment. (if I was too stupid enough to not be able to hook up the box to my TV, I can understand the charge). The supervisor agrees. He asks when is a good time for a technican to come out. I said Monday. So we will see.

MBrady

2011-12-18 08:15:32 AM

A few years ago, someone posted a list of "unpublished" comcast numbers that one could call. I think it was an excel spreadsheet and broken down into regions of the country (Northeast, West, etc). I think the numbers included some really high up people, like VPs, etc.

Can anyone post that again?

Happy Hours

2011-12-18 08:24:31 AM

MBrady: The customer service rep asks me if I have reset the box. [YES]. Then she tries to reset it herself. [DOESN'T DO A DAMN THING]

Of course it does - it means you have to wait an hour for the schedule to download and you can't use OnDemand during that time.

I don't understand this aspect of cable - the schedule can't possibly take up that much room.

Anyway, I got them to agree to give me 2 boxes for free for 6 months because I had a lot of problems and I wasn't getting all the channels I was paying for with the little DTA converters. So I get them and they're crap. They don't get HD channels so I'm still not getting all the channels I'm paying for on all my TVs and they absolutely suck. I didn't think it was possible for them to be slower and have less memory for channels than the DVR box.

Big_Fat_Liar

2011-12-18 11:53:38 AM

I'm OK with Comcast. Fast, but cost more than I'd like, just like everything else.

buzzcut73

2011-12-18 12:18:12 PM

Comcast sucks. We have outages that last an hour or two at least weekly if not more, the speed is slower than advertised, and those sneaky bastards change the due date on the bill maybe every six months or so, which makes a recurring payment start coming in late. I've caught on to that last one since I don't appreciate paying a $7 late charge. I wonder how much they rake in on that little scam every year.

davidphogan

2011-12-18 02:24:53 PM

buzzcut73: We have outages that last an hour or two at least weekly if not more

Seriously? I've had maybe four outages in the five years I've had them.

tita75

2011-12-18 02:50:16 PM

We used to have outages pretty frequently. Finally a Comcast tech came over and figured out that our signal was too weak. We had to get rid of one splitter, and the signal boosted up enough to get rid of the problem.

Axel_Gear

2011-12-18 03:17:17 PM

davidphogan: buzzcut73: We have outages that last an hour or two at least weekly if not more

Seriously? I've had maybe four outages in the five years I've had them.

Weekly would be impressive. When I had them they were daily. Some days they were hourly.

FiOS is amazing. Never once down. And its 4 times faster than the comcast service was for the same price.

Harry_Seldon

2011-12-18 06:30:29 PM

MBrady: Last week, my 2nd DVR box starting losing channels.

Ooh, my 2nd DVR box...

vspblog.com

Oreamnos

2011-12-18 06:51:04 PM

cmunic8r99: kabletown

Was hoping to see this.

OlderGuy

2011-12-18 06:59:41 PM

Benevolent Misanthrope: ThisNameSux: Benevolent Misanthrope: I see you've not done business with Comcast.

Funny since I'm sitting here watching my cable TV provided by Comcast as I type. Been a customer since cable TV first came to be and have never had a complaint.

You are - no joke - the first person I've heard say that about Comcast. Everyone I have ever know who had them had a problem with service, billing, Internet speed... something. And something real, not pull-it-out-of-your-ass complaints.

I'm glad you've had good experience with them. And very glad I have an alternative to them here.

Got Comcast in '82,(Continental Cablevision at the time), just in time to catch the opening of MTV.. video did kill the radio star.... was doing dial up to the local BBS's... CC went to Media General, then to AT&T, then to Comcast.. at some point in the mid '90's I dropped Verizon and went to Comcast for all three.. the phones ( three lines then, one now) have never failed except for hurricanes ripping down the infrastructure and one drunk a$$hole in a truck taking out two poles and 1/4 mile of cable.. same with the TV.. the internet would not work for about two weeks after install.. called the repair folks, was told I had a bad modem.. five modems later, with trips to exchange each one, asked for a weekend appointment, as I could not be home after 7am or before 6pm.. was told that they didn't work weekends, which was a big lie.. got the supervisor (and his name) who repeated the lie. Called Corporate, bluffed my way to the CEO's office and his executive secretary. Told her the details, she pulled up my account and verified my story.. she got the CEO ( Brian Roberts) on the phone, he sent a troubleshooter lady down that day ( Friday), she fired 4, demoted more, Saturday at 8:30 there were two Comcast trucks in my alley.. I had buried all of my utilities previously.. they repulled the line to the house.. the old one was damaged, had a cut in the insulation and an improperly installed connector in the filter box.. worked fine for 3 weeks, then more problems.. opened the filter box, removed the cinemax filter ( wasn't paying for cinemax), put in a jumper.. internet worked fine.. called the repair service, got the lady, told her what I did, she sent a guy to replace the filter, and have not had a problem since.. I would drop the TV.. only watch nascar and special broadcasts.. emergencies, etc.. As a previous poster said, people are stupid .. throw a Z, X or i in the name and it's " Oh, Look !! SHINEY !!!11!!" I think the collective IQ of a good part of the country is on a downward spiral.. has been for a while... getting close to circling the drain..... put a ZX after the model of a car.. "gotta have !"
As far as I am concerned, it's still Comcast... as long as my shait works, I don't care what they call it
Merry Christmas, folks....

Partisan

2011-12-18 08:51:47 PM

Cancel your cable. You don't need to watch another season Midget Ghost Desert Masters.

kbotc

2011-12-18 09:14:44 PM

They're currently installing fiber outside my house for municiple broadband. $19.99 FTTP? Hell yes.

Marcus Aurelius

2011-12-18 09:32:58 PM

Tourney3p0: TheGreatGazoo: Eh, I have Comcast business. I pay for 12/2, and get 20/5 according to speedtest.net, for whatever that is work.

It doesn't mean much. You're probably seeing Speed Boost or whatever they're calling it these days. They bump up the speeds dramatically for a few seconds at the beginning of an upload or download. Doesn't make much of a difference at all for relatively large downloads, but it will give false results for small things like speed tests.

...or people conducting real bidness, wherein they don't move more than a few megs at a shot. Just enough to refresh a form.

SevenizGud

2011-12-19 07:40:57 AM

I have internet that is 200TB/nanosecond up and 500TB/nanosecond down. And I have the entire internet in triple redundancy (for my own, personal use), so it NEVER EVER goes down. And I pay 39 cents a year.

raygundan

2011-12-20 04:10:39 PM

Partisan: Cancel your cable. You don't need to watch another season Midget Ghost Desert Masters.

I'm about to, but I really like Midget Ghost Desert Masters. I heard you can get it over the internet without even signing up for DirecTV now, though.

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